Method for Locating Underground Deposits of Hydrocarbon Including a Method for Highlighting an Object in a Three Dimensional Scene

1. A method for extracting underground deposits of hydrocarbon from a formation, comprising: generating input data including a well log output record and a seismic data output record; receiving said input data and generating an output display including a silhouette highlight of a selected object, the step of generating said output display including, rendering a selected object and a 3D scene into off screen image and depth buffers and generating a texture image containing an image of a set of visible parts of the selected object over a background color, in response to said texture image, re-rendering a whole 3D scene on screen where all objects are re-rendered normally; and adding a screen-aligned transparent quad object to the 3D scene and rendering the quad by drawing a silhouette highlight of the selected object; determining, from said output display, a particular location in the formation where said underground deposits of hydrocarbon are located; and extracting said underground deposits of hydrocarbon from said particular location in the formation.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rendering step of rendering a selected object and a 3D scene into off screen image and depth buffers comprises: clearing the off screen image and depth buffers and set the image buffer to a background color that will not appear on a selected object.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the rendering step of rendering a selected object and a 3D scene into off screen image and depth buffers further comprises: rendering all objects in the scene except for the selected object into the depth buffers and discarding any color information.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the rendering step of rendering a selected object and a 3D scene into off screen image and depth buffers further comprises: rendering the selected object into the depth and the image buffers preserving both color and depth information and generating said texture image containing an image of a set of visible parts of the selected object over a background color.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the adding step of adding a screen-aligned transparent quad object to the 3D scene and rendering the quad by drawing a silhouette highlight of the selected object comprises: adding a screen aligned transparent quad object to the 3D scene that is perpendicular to a view direction and is positioned in front of all objects on the scene covering the whole screen.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the adding step of adding a screen-aligned transparent quad object to the 3D scene and rendering the quad by drawing a silhouette highlight of the selected object further comprises: drawing a silhouette of the selected object in response to said texture image containing an image of a set of visible parts of the selected object over a background color.

7. A system adapted for extracting underground deposits of hydrocarbon from a formation, comprising: first apparatus adapted for generating input data including a well log output record and a seismic data output record; second apparatus adapted for receiving said input data and generating an output display including a silhouette highlight of a selected object, the second apparatus including, apparatus adapted for rendering a selected object and a 3D scene into off screen image and depth buffers and generating a texture image containing an image of a set of visible parts of the selected object over a background color, apparatus, responsive to said texture image, adapted for re-rendering a whole 3D scene on screen where all objects are re-rendered normally; and apparatus adapted for adding a screen-aligned transparent quad object to the 3D scene and rendering the quad by drawing a silhouette highlight of the selected object; means for determining, from said output display, a particular location in the formation where said underground deposits of hydrocarbon are located; and means for extracting said underground deposits of hydrocarbon from said particular location in the formation.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the apparatus adapted for rendering a selected object and a 3D scene into off screen image and depth buffers comprises: apparatus adapted for clearing the off screen image and depth buffers and set the image buffer to a background color that will not appear on a selected object.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the apparatus adapted for rendering a selected object and a 3D scene into off screen image and depth buffers further comprises: apparatus adapted for rendering all objects in the scene except for the selected object into the depth buffers and discarding any color information.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the apparatus adapted for rendering a selected object and a 3D scene into off screen image and depth buffers further comprises: apparatus adapted for rendering the selected object into the depth and the image buffers preserving both color and depth information and generating said texture image containing an image of a set of visible parts of the selected object over a background color.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus adapted for adding a screen-aligned transparent quad object to the 3D scene and rendering the quad by drawing a silhouette highlight of the selected object comprises: apparatus adapted for adding a screen aligned transparent quad object to the 3D scene that is perpendicular to a view direction and is positioned in front of all objects on the scene covering the whole screen.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the apparatus adapted for adding a screen-aligned transparent quad object to the 3D scene and rendering the quad by drawing a silhouette highlight of the selected object further comprises: apparatus adapted for drawing a silhouette of the selected object in response to said texture image containing an image of a set of visible parts of the selected object over a background color.

13. A tangible computer storage medium having a set of computer-readable instructions residing thereon that, when executed by a computer system, perform acts comprising: receiving input data including a well log output record and a seismic data output record; generating an output display including a silhouette highlight of a selected object, the step of generating said output display including, rendering a selected object and a 3D scene into off screen image and depth buffers and generating a texture image containing an image of a set of visible parts of the selected object over a background color, in response to said texture image, re-rendering a whole 3D scene on screen where all objects are re-rendered normally; and adding a screen-aligned transparent quad object to the 3D scene and rendering the quad by drawing a silhouette highlight of the selected object.

14. The tangible computer storage medium of claim 13 having a set of computer-readable instructions that, when executed, perform acts further comprising: clearing the off screen image and depth buffers and setting the image buffer to a background color that will not appear on a selected object.

15. The tangible computer storage medium of claim 14 having a set of computer-readable instructions that, when executed, perform acts further comprising: wherein the rendering step of rendering a selected object and a 3D scene into off screen image and depth buffers further comprises: rendering all objects in the scene except for the selected object into the depth buffers and discarding any color information.

16. The tangible computer storage medium of claim 13 having a set of computer-readable instructions that, when executed, perform acts further comprising: wherein the rendering step of rendering a selected object and a 3D scene into off screen image and depth buffers further comprises: rendering the selected object into the depth and the image buffers preserving both color and depth information and generating said texture image containing an image of a set of visible parts of the selected object over a background color.

17. The tangible computer storage medium of claim 13 having a set of computer-readable instructions that, when executed, perform acts further comprising: wherein the adding step of adding a screen-aligned transparent quad object to the 3D scene and rendering the quad by drawing a silhouette highlight of the selected object comprises: adding a screen aligned transparent quad object to the 3D scene that is perpendicular to a view direction and is positioned in front of all objects on the scene covering the whole screen.

18. The tangible computer storage medium of claim 17 having a set of computer-readable instructions that, when executed, perform acts further comprising, wherein the adding step of adding a screen-aligned transparent quad object to the 3D scene and rendering the quad by drawing a silhouette highlight of the selected object further comprises: drawing a silhouette of the selected object in response to said texture image containing an image of a set of visible parts of the selected object over a background color.